Collection gives artists
another tryHawaii '98: various artists (MGC)
MGC Records, radio station FM 99.5, Johnny Kai Lorance and the Hawaii Music Awards share credit for the anthology "Hawaii '98." Ten of the 16 artists record for MGC. A few of the songs were local hits. Most were not. This could give them a second chance.
Highlights include Jonny Kamai's hard driving "Tiny's Big Blue Surf," Justin Young's catchy "Streets of Waiks," Walter "Waltah Boy" Tavares' take on Craig Kamahele's "Hawaiian Breed," Sabrina's bright "Come to My Islands," and Jennifer Barber's sultry "Whisper to Me." Barber is clearly an artist with national potential.
It's a shame the producers provide no information on who these artists are or why these songs were chosen. At least one of the performer credits is wrong. There are no composers' credits at all. An anthology without accurate background information is second-rate at best.
A portion of the proceeds go to Lorance and the Hawaii Music Awards.
Ten of these artists received Hawaii Music Awards from Lorance two weeks after the album was released. That, too, may give them a second shot at play on at least one local radio station.
Island of Dreams: 'Ekahi (Kahale Records)
THE appropriate consumer advisory "Contains Previously Released Material" is nowhere to be seen on the cover, but this is a collection of old recordings culled from the archives of producer John Kahale Chang. Some songs go back almost 10 years. Few of the acts are still recording.
Na Waiho'olu'u O Ke Anuenue ranked with Ho'aikane as one of Chang's biggest acts in the early 1990s. "Terina Pomare" shows how beautifully the three women could sing when they weren't being produced to sound like lame pseudo-Jamaicans. "My Island Home" shows how close their replacements, Brothers & Sisters, came to being cloned into the same musical dead end.
Crisp percussion and clean harmonies make Na Hoku Pa's 1990 recording of "Naka (sic) Pueo" one of the strongest cuts. Pueo's 1990 anthem, "Flight of the Pueo," gets a lift from studio guitarist Frank Mendiola. Songs by Led Kaapana and Johnny Lum Ho have also aged well, but Kahale fails to provide song lyrics or English translations for them.
Most of the other selections are either generic run-of-the-mill local pop or demo tape stuff. The nadir is "Malia," a shameless Jawaiian plundering of Simon & Garfunkel's 1970 hit "Cecilia." Thin sound and weak production mar other selections.
No information is provided on the history of the artists or the significance of the selections. These artists deserve better.
See Record Reviews for some of John Berger's past reviews.
See Aloha Worldwide for locals living away.
John Berger, who has covered the local
entertainment scene since 1972, writes reviews of recordings
produced by Hawaii artists. See the Star-Bulletin's Home Zone
section on Fridays for the latest reviews.
